Action: San Jose State names Dave Wojcik basketball coach.Reaction I: Honestly, I don’t know much about him, other than: 1) He worked for a very good coach in Boise State’s Leon Rice, 2) He’s familiar with the Mountain West, 3) His brother, Doug, coaches the College of Charleston, 4) He knows AD Gene Bleymaier, who hired Rice and his staff at Boise State. (Here’s our news story on the Wojcik hiring, by the way.)Reaction II: I’m curious as to what Wojcik (WOE-jik) was told about SJSU’s resources — or lack thereof — as it prepares to enter the Mountain West. (Maybe we’ll get some answers Tuesday at Wojcik’s introductory press conference.) When will the new offices be ready? When will the Spartans have a practice facility? Will the recruiting budget be increased? What is the planned salary pool for assistant coaches? Solving the infrastructure issues is just as important than finding the right coach. Without significant upgrades, it won’t matter who’s in charge — the Spartans will be obliterated in the Mountain West.

The lines are out, and it should come as no surprise that one game is viewed as a lopsided matchup and one as a taut affair.

Louisville, the No. 1 overall seed that’s fresh off a blowout of Duke, opened as a 10-point favorite over No. 9 seed Wichita State.

In the other game, a duel of No. 4 seeds, Michigan opened as a 2.5-point favorite over Syracuse, but the line has dropped a half-point in the casinos.

I haven’t taken a close look at the matchups — that will comes in the next 48 hours — but I can provide one piece of potentially relevant information.

If you believe, as Louisville Rick Pitino said years ago and has repeated on more than one occasion, that “talent wins at the Final Four,” then there is no true favorite despite Louisville’s impressive run through the Midwest and winning streak that stretches back to early February.

*** I’ll have my early top-25 for the 2010-11 season and my early Pac-10 projections for 2010-11 in the next 24-48 hours.

*** Was anyone else tiring of the Butler-North Carolina State, Butler-Villanova and Butler-Milan High comparisons? The Bulldogs have been a fabulous story, but they were No. 11 in the AP preseason poll, after all — just two spots below Duke (and three below West Virginia).

It’s not like they came out of nowhere as a No. 8 seed, and it’s not like they were facing Olajuwon or Ewing … or Oscar Robertson.

*** As for the impact of Butler’s run to within a few inches of the title, we’ll see what significance it holds for the so-called “mid-majors” in coming years … more NCAA at-large bids? … better regular-season scheduling opportunities? … the end of the phrase “mid-majors”?

The cynic in me thinks it won’t change a thing, unfortunately.

OK, to the game and the Devils’ ranking …

Admittedly, there were a few, brief moments tonight when I thought, When do the big boys take the stage?

But what the championship game lacked in elite offensive players … Florida ’07 or North Carolina ’09 would have smoked these teams — Butler went eight minutes without a field goal in the second half and almost won, which tells you a lot about Duke, and Butler … it more than made up for in other ways:

It was two masterfully coached teams playing rugged defense and unselfish, if spotty, offense. It was smart, taut, sound basketball. (Norman Dale would have been proud.) And it was a classic.

No doubt about that: One of the best title games of the past 25 or 30 years.

Oddsmakers in Las Vegas say Duke is the favorite among the Final Four to win the NCAA title while Michigan State is a longshot despite its trip to the finals last year.

Oddsmaker Kenny White of Las Vegas Sports Consultants said Monday that Duke was a 7-5 favorite to win the title and a 2.5-point favorite to beat West Virginia in the semifinals on Saturday night.

White says either team would likely be favored over Butler or Michigan State in the finals.

The Las Vegas-based firm that recommends betting lines to 90 percent of sports books in Nevada says Butler has a 5-2 chance of winning the title and put West Virginia’s chances at 2-1 and Michigan State’s at 17-5.

The firm says Butler is favored by 1.5 points in its game against Michigan State.

*** As with the NFL, so much of the NCAA Tournament’s popularity is tied to gambling — whether it’s a $5 office pool or five-figure money-line bet.

So as a Hotline public service, here’s a short Associated Press story on the subject:

Oddsmakers in Las Vegas say Duke is the favorite among the Final Four to win the NCAA title while Michigan State is a longshot despite its trip to the finals last year.

Here’s an early version of my column for today’s Merc, with two additional items up top:

1) If you’re curious: Duke opened as a 2-pt favorite over West Virginia, and the number has jumped to 2.5 in some casinos. Butler opened as a 1.5-pt favorite over Michigan State, and that line has dropped to 1. I could see the Spartans being a slight favorite by tipoff.

2) The Final Four seed value of 13 (arrived at by adding the participants’ seeds: 1, 2 and two 5s) is the second-highest since 2000. The 2006 field, which included No. 11 George Mason, was higher.

The NCAA selection committee aims for a FF seed value of 6. Obviously, it whiffed on that — as it did on several issues relating to the bracket.

In general, I thought this was the committee’s worst performance since the mid-200s, when it was dominated by career administrators, not former basketball coaches.

We’ve got a home-away-from-home team in the title game for the first time since Duke in Charlotte in ’94 (didn’t help the Devils), and we’ve got what has to be the first title game rematch between teams that met in the regular season and were separated by 35 points.

On Dec. 3, in Ford Field: UNC 98, Michigan State 63.

Granted, UNC was playing very, very well then, and MSU was without big man Goran Suton and struggling. But UNC is playing very, very well right now, too.

The difference is with the Spartans, who are much better and healthier now than they were four months ago.

But are they 35 points better? No. Which means they’re going to need help.